### 243

Your Arrow pierces the creature’s chest and makes it shriek loudly. It stumbles forward a few steps and then collapses face first into the mud, its heart skewered by the tip and shaft of your well-aimed missile.

‘Fine shooting, my Lord,’ says Anseng, settling himself down on the driver’s seat beside you, ‘Though I must say that this does not bode well for us. I’ve never known these creatures to venture this far south before. Something has made them come here, something more than a hunger for horseflesh.’

Your Sixth Sense warns you of an evil presence in the surrounding trees, an evil that is supernatural in nature, but you decide not to inform Anseng of your feelings for it will only disturb your brave guide unnecessarily. Once again you call upon your Magnakai Discipline of Animal Control to calm the wagon team. They are slow to respond to your soothing commands but your persistence pays off. When they have settled, you flick the reins, and the team sets off at a steady pace. Slowly they gather speed as their confidence returns.

You have covered less than a mile when you come to a sharp bend in the road. You rein in the horses to negotiate this difficult hairpin bend, but upon clearing it your heart sinks when you see a strange phenomenon blocking the highway. Barely fifty yards ahead, a semi-circular dome of swirling dark energy crackles and hisses as it brings the surface of the muddy road to the boil. Ghostly grey images swoop in and out of this dark dome, trailing wreathes of steam as they emerge from its unnatural blackness. Anseng can hardly believe what he is seeing. He opens his mouth to voice his shocked surprise but no sound emerges. His eyes widen with fear when he realises he can no longer speak.

If you possess Kai-screen and have achieved the rank of Grand Thane, turn to 61.

If you do not possess this Grand Master Discipline, or if you have yet to achieve the rank of Grand Thane, turn to 102.